Industrial Supply News and Views

06/23/2009

Low Cost Help for Small Manufacturers

The federally-funded Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), is a low-profile but high-octane national network of 393 manufacturing assistance centers - stocked to the gills with cutting edge expertise - whose sole purpose in life is to help small manufacturers like you become more tech-savvy, more efficient, more competitive and more profitable. MEP has been around since 1988 but saw its funding slashed under the Bush Administration. That's changed, with the current administration seeking to double MEP funding. You can use the MEP for help in nearly every aspect of your manufacturing business, from improving plant layout, to getting your shop floor in shape, to restructuring your finances, upgrading your Web site, securing specialized software or you name it. There's a small cost, but it's generally a fraction of what you'd pay privately for similar services. --Brian Luskey, Associate Editor

04/06/2009

Robot Welders Ready for Their Close-Up

Servo-Robot makes guidance systems for industrial robots and, well, everything they do just sounds cool. The Montreal-based company's latest product is the RoboFind laser-camera package that looks out ahead of a robotic welder to spot little misfits in the two pieces of metal to be welded and, in under a second, adjusts the position of the arc welder. Setup is done with a laptop only - the miniature camera contains all the chips it needs without a separate controller. The company recently announced RoboPal for pick and place robots, a laser/camera/ultrasonic sensor system that quickly reacts to unexpected changes in sizes of parts. --Jeff B. Copeland, Content Product Manager

03/16/2009

Industrial-Strength iPhone

Take a break from playing Super Monkey Ball and check on how your supply chain is holding up with D. W. Morgan Company's iPhone app for users of its ChainLinq suite of inventory and supply chain management software. The system, rolling out this spring, will allow drivers, dispatchers and warehouse staff to communicate in real time and track shipments on a Google Earth display on the Apple phones. Look for more iPhone apps for industry soon: SAP, the enterprise software giant, just announced that it will make the SAP Business Suite accessible via the iPhone, Blackberry and other mobile devices. -- Jeff B. Copeland, Content Product Manager

03/16/2009

The Prius of Forklifts

Feeling good and green driving your Toyota Prius hybrid car to work? Feel even better when you see your crew driving around in hybrid forklifts. Toyota Industrial Equipment unveiled a hybrid lift truck, still in concept phase, at the recent ProMat 2009 show. Like the hybrid passenger cars now on the road, the forklifts will automatically switch between gasoline and battery power. Toyota is already a leader in green, internal combustion lift trucks with the 8-Series, which the company bills as the world's cleanest, beating the 2007 EPA standards by 70%. The 8s can run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or compressed natural gas (CNG) if you really want to cut down on pollution. -- Jeff B. Copeland, Content Product Manager

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Industrial Supply News and Views

Low Cost Help for Small Manufacturers

Robot Welders Ready for Their Close-Up

Industrial-Strength iPhone

The Prius of Forklifts

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